Uniabuja Students Lockout FCT Minister Over Students’ Bus, Others

ABUJA- STUDENTS of the University of
Abuja under the aegis, FCT National
Association of Nigeria Students, NANS,
yesterday locked out the Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory Administration,
FCTA, Senator Bala Mohammed and other
government officials over the refusal of the
administration to purchase for them a
School bus.
The protesting students who barricaded the
entrance and exit gates of the FCTA
Secretariat in Area 11, Garki District, Abuja
for about some hours on Thursday,
demanded that the FCTA must purchase a
vehicle for their association immediately to
enable them attend their various
conventions; develop the University of
Abuja’s Unity Park; solve water supply
challenges at the University of Abuja’s mini
campus and furnish the common room of
the NANS Chairman.
The protesting students, led by the
Chairman of the University of Abuja Chapter
of the National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS), Comrade Friday
Omadewu Adayi, laid siege to the FCTA
Secretariat from 12noon till yesterday
evening insisting that they would not leave
the place unless the FCTA met their
demands.
Following the crippling of business activities
and to avoid any breakdown of law and
order, selected leaders of the students later
met with FCT officials led by the FCT
Education Secretary, Alhaji Kabir Usman
who promised to look into their demands.
The FCTA was of the view that since the
University was a federal one, most of
demands were either untenable or should
have been pursued through the Federal
Ministry of Education which administers the
University of Abuja.
The Secretary announced that the request
by the students for a donation of a vehicle
to the FCT NANS was receiving attention
and would be granted if funds become
available, adding that while the FCTA
acknowledged the right of the students to
request for assistance, it abhors any action
taken to disrupt government activities.
Condemning the act, the FCTA noted that it
was wrong for the students to attempt to
use force to compel government to fulfill
requests that are not statutory
responsibilities of the FCTA, just as it
described the protest as unjustifiable and
embarrassing.
In a statement signed later by the Special
Assistant, Media to the Minister, Nosike
Ogbuenyi, the FCTA said, ” The point
should be stressed that it is not part of
FCTA’s official responsibility to furnish the
NANS Chairman’s common room at the
University of Abuja or to provide internal
infrastructure in Federal universities.
Similarly, government action on the kind of
demands made by the students is
discretionary and dependent on resource
availability.
” Nonetheless, the FCTA cherishes robust
relationship with NANS even though it
frowns at any attempt to hold it to ransom
by students over welfare and logistics
demands by individuals or groups.
“The FCTA advises the students to desist
from lawless acts like blocking of gates.
However, the Administration will continue
to assist students through its various
mechanisms including award of
scholarships. It will equally continue to give
logistics support to students’ organizations
such as NANS provided that due process is
followed and sufficient notice given in all
cases. While we are doing this, we call on
parents to always watch their children and
wards closely by calling them to order
whenever the need arises.
“The FCT Administration through its Water
Board has provided potable and
wholesome water to the residents of the
Federal Capital Territory including
Gwagwalada township by the recent
commissioning of the Lower Usuma Dam
Phases III & IV Water Treatment Plants and
therefore it is the duty of individuals,
institutions and corporate organizations to
undertake water reticulation in their areas of
abode. “